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Definition of Hakka in English:

Hakka

noun

1A member of a people of south-eastern China, especially Canton, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, who migrated from the north during the 12th century.

‘Earlier than the Fujianese, Hakkas - a semi-outcast group, originally perhaps from Henan, who had found their way to Guangdong - had migrated to Taiwan, where they still make up 10 to 15 per cent of the population.’

‘Besides the voters who have long opposed Lee, minority groups such as the Hakka also joined in Soong's anti-Lee Teng-hui campaign.’

‘The Hakkas had been a persecuted minority in the north of China, who moved to the south and then across to the Pescadores Islands and on to Taiwan itself, where they were the first Chinese arrivals.’

‘Among the best known Chinese leaders of the twentieth century, Sun Yat-sen, Deng Xiaoping, Zhu De, Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang are all found to be Hakkas.’

‘There are about 4 million Hakkas nationwide, representing 15 percent of Taiwan's population.’

‘There are four major ethnic groups in Taiwan, namely the Aboriginals, the Hoklo, the Hakka, and the most recent immigrants from China.’

‘Although Hakkas are not the only tea farmers in Taiwan, they are the only group to blend tea into their music and culture.’

‘Huang said that because she married a Hakka and her brother married a mainlander, she does not think about ethnic differences.’

‘It said 43.8 percent of those of Hoklo ethnicity consider themselves both Taiwanese and Chinese, while 43.8 percent of Hakka do.’

‘Yeh said that the trees, also know as paulownia trees in English, used to be an important source of income for the Hakka.’

‘My piece is based on the Hakka's hard-working and stoic spirit, and their wisdom in solving problems posed by nature.’

‘In Taiwan, about 15% of the people are mainlanders and another 15% are Hakkas.’

‘During the confrontation across the Taiwan strait in 1996, a Taiwanese colleague muttered to me that it was ‘a fight between two old Hakkas.’’

‘He also listed various Hakka merits during the speech and asked Taiwanese society to emulate the Hakka's hard-working spirit to deal with the various challenges facing the nation.’

‘In the mountains were many mines, some recently opened and employing ‘incomers’, a word which usually indicates the Hakkas, though some may have been aborigines.’

‘The Council for Hakka Affairs could also help with Council for Cultural Affairs projects in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli, where a lot of Hakkas live, Tchen said.’

‘Moreover, Hualien's four major ethnic groups - Hokkien, Hakka, Aboriginals and mainland Chinese - do not reflect the true population distribution elsewhere in Taiwan.’

‘The Hakkas, usually mistakenly regarded as a minority race in China, are actually a unique ethnic sub-group of the majority Han nationality.’

‘Such language loss is even more serious among the Hakka and Aborigines.’

‘Both opinions reveal a flimsy understanding of Hakka participation in social and political life in Taiwan, the role Hakka have played in Taiwan's recent democratization, and even sometimes purposeful distortions of the truth.’

2mass nounThe dialect of Chinese spoken by the Hakka, with about 27 million speakers.

‘First and foremost, the system's function is to facilitate the learning of the languages used in Taiwan: Mandarin, Holo, Hakka, etc.’

‘Each episode will be an hour long with Hakka as its main language.’

‘‘I consider myself lucky because I don't have to overcome the language barrier because I spoke Hakka at home in Indonesia and learned to speak Mandarin by watching TV,’ she said.’

‘Speaking exclusively in Hakka, Lien went on to say that Taiwanese people should identify with each other and respect each other, and that politicians should not try to deepen the rift between the races.’

‘After coming to Taiwan, he also began to learn to speak Taiwanese and Hakka.’

‘Its primary official language, naturally, would be Hokkien, but it would do well to consider elevating Hakka, Mandarin and Paiwan (the largest Aboriginal group in the new state) to official status as well.’

‘The proposed national languages development law would guarantee equal respect for all Taiwanese tongues, such as Hakka, Hoklo and all Aboriginal languages, Chen said.’

‘As a result, more conversation in Mandarin and other Chinese-language music was heard - including Hakka - during ICRT's regular programming.’

‘Some also asked whether commercials in Hakka and other languages should also be created in the interest of fairness.’

‘Gazing at the flag fluttering in the wind on the sunny day, five young women recited a declaration of Taiwan's independence in Hoklo, Hakka, Mandarin, Amis and English, while a Presbyterian Church minister said a prayer for Taiwan.’

‘The Ministry of Education has decided to make it compulsory for primary school children to learn one of Taiwan's three native languages - Taiwanese, Hakka or an Aboriginal language - beginning in 2001.’

‘Sorry, I can't speak Hakka but I can swear in Hokkien.’

‘My wife would pretend she didn't hear the children's words if they were not spoken in Hakka.’

‘Although both teenagers speak Cantonese and Hakka at home, they are more comfortable with English.’

‘The main varieties of ‘Chinese’ (Cantonese, Hakka, Hsiang, Kan, Mandarin, Min, and Wu) are as distinct from one another as English from Danish or German.’

‘One problem about such a system is that it will make the Examination Yuan's task significantly harder; it will have to set and mark exams not only in Mandarin but also Hoklo, Hakka and any of the 12 recognized Aboriginal languages.’

‘Some speakers of Hakka - the second most prominent dialect in Taiwan, spoken by one-fifth of the population - also disputed the use of Taiwanese in the examinations.’

‘The proposed law would prohibit discrimination against court testimonies given in local languages - Hoklo, Hakka and a dozen Aboriginal languages.’

‘As for the teaching and learning of Hakka, there is 90 percent compatibility between Tongyong and Hakka.’

‘Chen yesterday presided over a ceremony marking the transition of the National Lien-Ho Institute of Technology to the status of a university - the first university to open in Miaoli County, where most residents speak Hakka.’

adjective

Relating to the Hakka or their language.

‘the Hakka language and culture’

‘This tradition is reflected in Hakka food, which emphasizes original flavours and nutritional value rather than a brilliant appearance.’

‘Even in the most prosperous Hakka houses the women still spun and sewed.’

‘In addition to Hokkien-language songs, they may also include songs in Hakka and Aboriginal languages, Yang added.’

‘‘The priority of the commission is to preserve the Hakka language in order to revitalize Hakka culture,’ Liu said.’

‘Lian Ho University plans to set up a graduate research institute for Hakka culture in August, university president Chin Tsung-shune told the Taipei Times yesterday.’

‘The oil extracted from the seeds was used as a key ingredient for varnish and it remains a must for Hakka people who produce hand-made umbrellas with oil paper.’

‘Huang said the logo's four colors - brown, blue, orange, white - represent the island's four major ethnic groups, Taiwanese, mainlanders, Hakka people and aboriginal tribes.’

‘The early Hakkas were thought to have ‘royal blood’ and while maintaining their Han culture, Hakka people married into other ethnic groups and adopted something of other cultures during their long history of migration.’

‘Eventually, the government would like to see public television offer a wide variety of shows such as Hakka and Aboriginal programs, she said.’

‘The Council for Hakka Affairs has then seized upon the flower's blooming season as an opportunity to showcase Hakka culture and give tourists one more reason to head for the hills on their days off.’

‘Lai Hao-min is a famous lawyer and Hakka leader.’

‘Yau remembers his grandfather cooking Hakka food, typified as ‘the very freshest vegetables, because we grew them, and hardly any meat, probably because we couldn't afford it’.’

‘The Hakka Perspective will run as a 26-episode program on Hakka language television channels sometime after July.’

‘The 10 songs on the album describe a variety of experiences by laborers in different working environments, such as Hakka farmers, Aboriginal workers, snack-bar owners and others.’

‘The Dutch East India Company encouraged Chinese migration in order to increase agricultural production, and the numbers of Fujianese and Hakka settlers grew to some 200,000 by the end of the Dutch period.’

‘We hope to present the new appearance of Hakka culture to the public.’